[Short Horror Story Collection: Strange Tales] #33 'Stalker Sneaker'
#33 'Stalker Sneaker'
Word count: approx. 3,240 characters
There was a woman who had successfully graduated from university in five years and was about to start her life as a new member of society this spring.
With her move just a few days away, she was busy packing up her student apartment.
She was sorting through her belongings, deciding what to take to her new apartment and what to get rid of.
She decided to throw away everything that reminded her of her ex-boyfriend, who had graduated from university last year.
She would also get rid of the manga and magazines she no longer read.
She had a bit too many clothes, so she would cut those down too.
She would take her favorite beanbag chair with her.
'I love these shoes too, but... what should I do?'
She held them in her hands, agonizing over her favorite pair of sneakers that she had worn out over the past five years.
They were her comrades-in-arms, having shared in her joys and sorrows from the very first day of university, through the shock of failing a year, all the way to her graduation today.
Since she had been with them a year longer than her boyfriend, they were, in a sense, closer than he was.
They were quite worn out, but they were still wearable, and above all, she was attached to them.
However, she had already bought a new pair of sneakers.
'Alright, I'll throw them away!'
She categorized them with the items that reminded her of her ex-boyfriend and made a clean break.
She stuffed them into a burnable trash bag and took them to the collection point the next morning.
◯
'Huh, why?'
A woman who had returned to her student apartment from grocery shopping was startled the moment she opened the front door.
The sneakers she had put out at the collection point that morning were neatly lined up on the entryway floor.
Thinking someone might have broken in while she was out, she checked the room, but there were no signs of a struggle, and she couldn't find anything missing.
The only thing that had changed since she left was that the old sneakers she was supposed to have thrown away were there.
"Don't tell me, did they come back on their own?"
Could it be that they had returned to their owner, just like the dolls in ghost stories...?
It was hard to believe, but she had definitely put the sneakers in a trash bag and thrown them away.
Feeling uneasy, the woman stuffed the sneakers that shouldn't have been there into a plastic shopping bag she had in the room and left the apartment.
She walked to a convenience store a bit further away than the nearest one, and while feeling sorry for the clerk, she tossed the bag containing the sneakers into the burnable trash bin. Afterward, she bought juice and snacks as a token of apology before heading home.
◯
The next morning, she woke up, jumped out of bed, and went straight to the entryway.
And she was dismayed.
"As I thought... they're back."
The sneakers she had supposedly thrown away in the convenience store trash bin were once again neatly lined up on the entryway floor.
There was no longer any room for doubt.
"If throwing them away doesn't work, maybe I'll try selling them."
When she took them to a recycle shop that same day,
"The purchase price will be 10,000 yen, is that alright?"
They sold for more than she expected.
She had been worried they might be too worn out to be bought at all, but it seemed they had become a somewhat premium item. If they hadn't been creepy shoes that returned on their own, she might have kept them until their value went up a bit more.
I hope you never come back!
After leaving the shop, I pressed my hands together in prayer and headed toward a solo yakiniku restaurant.
◯
So selling them didn't work...
The next morning, the sneakers had returned to their usual spot in the entryway.
Could I avoid working in the new fiscal year by just repeatedly taking them to a second-hand shop and letting them come back on their own?
I had a wicked idea, but I felt guilty thinking about the shop staff whose merchandise had vanished.
More than anything, I just never wanted them to come back again.
Maybe staying local is the problem. I need to send them somewhere so far away they can't possibly return... That's it!
◯
On the morning of the day she was moving into her new apartment, she arrived at the shipping company's service counter.
She was holding a package in her hands.
I'd like to ship an item I sold on an online flea market. What is the procedure?
She was a complete beginner who had just installed the app, but she found a buyer in seconds.
Perhaps her decision to set the price at a completely unprofitable 300 yen including shipping, just to get rid of them, had paid off.
The destination was a distant prefecture that would require air transport, which was perfect.
In other words, what was packed inside was those very sneakers.
As the counter clerk, a bob-haired woman who looked about her age, processed the shipment, she offered a silent prayer in her heart.
The person receiving these will surely take good care of them, so no matter what happens, don't you ever come back.
And after the procedure was completed,
Thank you for your help!
I said my refreshing farewells and left the delivery company.
◯
That night, the woman who had successfully moved into her new apartment was stretching out in a room full of cardboard boxes.
The sneakers that had been such a hassle to dispose of were probably on a plane by now, flying off to a new land.
Since I've moved to a new home, there's no way they could come back—
Ding-dong!
At the sound of the doorbell, I turned toward the entrance and frowned.
Who on earth would come visiting on the night of my move?
I had no plans for any visitors.
Feeling suspicious, I looked at the intercom and saw that the person in front of the door looked just like the bob-haired clerk at the delivery company who had taken my package that morning. When I leaned in close to the monitor to check, it was indeed her. She was in plain clothes with a handbag over her shoulder, but it was definitely that bob-haired clerk from the delivery company.
I have something to discuss regarding the package you entrusted to us today...
Concerned by her serious expression on the monitor, I headed straight to the entrance.
As I walked, I thought. If she came to apologize because it was 'lost' while being held at the delivery company, that would be a bit unsettling. Honestly, I'd be more grateful if it just stayed lost.
Then, the moment I pushed open the front door,
the bob-haired clerk suddenly hugged me.
Why are you throwing me away!?
What, what, what!?
We were together for five years!!
A chill ran down my spine, and when I looked down at her feet, the bob-haired clerk was wearing those very sneakers.
"............"
"Please, don't throw me away again!"
"............"
"Keep wearing me from now on!"
"............I will. I'll wear them."
As the woman answered, the bob-haired staff member wore a look of relief and promptly fainted.
I laid her slumped body down in the hallway and took off the sneakers. When the bob-haired staff member, who would likely regain her senses soon, eventually left, I decided I would have no choice but to lend her the brand-new pair of sneakers I had just bought.
As I reached to pick up her handbag that had fallen onto the entryway floor, I noticed that because the lid had popped open, something dangerous was peeking out from inside.
I crouched down with my legs spread and pulled it out; it was a kitchen knife.
Thinking that if I had answered "I'll never wear them again" just a few seconds earlier, it might have been me lying there collapsed, I felt a deep sense of terror, followed by a deep sense of relief, and I smiled as if all the tension had drained out of me.
At that worst possible moment, the bob-haired staff member regained consciousness.
"Eek!? Murderer!!"
(End)
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